Three Minutes With: Nashville’s leading scorer Patric Hornqvist…

This is the third in a multi-part series leading up to the 2010-11 regular season.

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To help bridge the gap between now and the regular season, we will be doing a series called Three Minutes With. Every installment will be with a different member of the Nashville Predators family. Could be players. Could be coaches. Could even be fans.

In the third installment we have Nashville Predators leading goal scorer Patric Hornqvist. After tallying just two goals and a mere seven points in his debut NHL season, Hornqvist broke out in 2009-10 scoring 30 goals, the second most in Predators history for a single season. His 51 points tied for the team lead with veteran Steve Sullivan and got a new contract rewarding him and his stellar efforts.

Jeremy K. Gover: You look like you were having a great time out there.Patric Hornqvist: Oh it’s always nice to be back here in Nashville and see all the guys and have some fun before training camp starts. So yeah, it’s nice to be back.

JG: Are these informal skates more fun as opposed to a structured practice?PH: Oh it’s always fun to be on the ice but now you can relax a little more and try to make those fancy plays and those kinds of things. Everybody’s laughing out there and having a great time. But everybody, on the same thing, everybody wants training camp to start.

JG: What’d you do this summer?PH: It was great. I was back in Sweden. Practiced a lot and just had a good time with friends and family. It’s always nice to be back in Sweden too.

JG: Maybe not for you but for the fans it was a roller coaster ride. How did you handle the contract negotiation? Did you get involved or just let your agents handle all that?PH: Oh I let my agents handle all those things. They just called me when it was done and I signed the paper and, of course, I’m really happy to be here for three more years. I like this organization, I like this club, I like my teammates in here so yeah… hopefully three good years here.

JG: 30 goals last season. What kinds of goals are you setting for yourself as your encore?PH: Oh I don’t put up any individual goals for myself. We’ve gotta take it to the playoffs and go a little deeper this year and, of course, I have to score, Sully has to score, we know the guys who have to score on this team and we have to step up a little bit from last year.

JG: Talk a little bit about the whole Olympic experience, playing with Peter Forsberg and all of your countrymen in Sweden.PH: Yeah it was just a great time, too bad we lose in the quarter-finals there but yeah, we had a good time. It’s always something special putting that Sweden jersey on.

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About Jeremy K. Gover

Jeremy grew up in the Bay Area cheering for the Sharks since their inception. He moved to Nashville in September of 2005 and became a season ticket holder a day later. Thankfully, he no longer bleeds teal. You can e-mail Jeremy at [email protected]